diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 3f60c5a3..79f9bf47 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -55,6 +55,29 @@ test.all(common)
 
 A valid (read: that follows this interface) IPFS core implementation, must expose the following API.
 
+## Files
+
+### `cat` 
+
+> Streams the data contained by an IPFS object(s) at the given IPFS multihash..
+
+##### `Go` **WIP**
+
+##### `JavaScript` - ipfs.cat(multihash, [callback])
+
+`multihash` is a [multihash][] which can be passed as
+
+- Buffer, the raw Buffer of the multihash (or of and encoded version)
+- String, the toString version of the multihash (or of an encoded version)
+
+`callback` must follow `function (err, stream) {}` signature, where `err` is an error if the operation was not successful and `stream` is a readable stream of the file.
+
+If no `callback` is passed, a promise is returned.
+
+
+
+
+
 ## Object
 
 ### `object.new`
diff --git a/test/files.js b/test/files.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..68ec69dd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/files.js
@@ -0,0 +1,133 @@
+/* eslint-env mocha */
+'use strict'
+
+const expect = require('chai').expect
+const bl = require('bl')
+const bs58 = require('bs58')
+const Readable = require('readable-stream')
+
+module.exports = (common) => {
+  describe('.file', () => {
+    let ipfs
+
+    before((done) => {
+      common.setup((err, _ipfs) => {
+        expect(err).to.not.exist
+        ipfs = _ipfs
+        done()
+      })
+    })
+
+    after((done) => {
+      common.teardown(done)
+    })
+
+    // go-ipfs http and js-ipfs core have different responses
+    describe('.add', () => {
+      it('add', (done) => {
+        const buffered = new Buffer('some data')
+        const rs = new Readable()
+        rs.push(buffered)
+        rs.push(null)
+        const arr = []
+        const filePair = {path: 'data.txt', content: rs}
+        arr.push(filePair)
+        ipfs.add(arr, (err, res) => {
+          expect(err).to.not.exist
+          expect(res[0].path).to.equal('data.txt')
+          expect(res[0].size).to.equal(17)
+          expect(bs58.encode(res[0].multihash).toString()).to.equal('QmVv4Wz46JaZJeH5PMV4LGbRiiMKEmszPYY3g6fjGnVXBS')
+          done()
+        })
+      })
+    })
+
+    describe('.cat', () => {
+      it('returns file stream', (done) => {
+        const hash = 'QmPZ9gcCEpqKTo6aq61g2nXGUhM4iCL3ewB6LDXZCtioEB'
+        ipfs.cat(hash, (err, file) => {
+          expect(err).to.not.exist
+          file.pipe(bl((err, bldata) => {
+            expect(err).to.not.exist
+            expect(bldata.toString()).to.contain('Check out some of the other files in this directory:')
+            done()
+          }))
+        })
+      })
+
+      // This fails on js-ipfs-api
+      it.skip('takes a buffer input', (done) => {
+        const mhBuf = new Buffer(bs58.decode('QmPZ9gcCEpqKTo6aq61g2nXGUhM4iCL3ewB6LDXZCtioEB'))
+        ipfs.cat(mhBuf, (err, file) => {
+          expect(err).to.not.exist
+          file.pipe(bl((err, bldata) => {
+            expect(err).to.not.exist
+            expect(bldata.toString()).to.contain('Check out some of the other files in this directory:')
+            done()
+          }))
+        })
+      })
+
+      // You can add a large file to your ipfs repo and change the hash to the file after installing js-ipfs
+      it.skip('returns a large file', (done) => {
+        const hash = ''
+        ipfs.cat(hash, (err, file) => {
+          expect(err).to.not.exist
+          file.pipe(bl((err, bldata) => {
+            expect(err).to.not.exist
+            done()
+          }))
+        })
+      })
+
+      it('returns error on invalid key', (done) => {
+        const hash = 'somethingNotMultihash'
+        ipfs.cat(hash, (err, file) => {
+          expect(err).to.exist
+          const errString = err.toString()
+          if (errString === 'Error: invalid ipfs ref path') {
+            expect(err.toString()).to.contain('Error: invalid ipfs ref path')
+          }
+          if (errString === 'Error: Invalid Key') {
+            expect(err.toString()).to.contain('Error: Invalid Key')
+          }
+          done()
+        })
+      })
+
+      describe('promise', () => {
+        it('files.cat', (done) => {
+          const hash = 'QmPZ9gcCEpqKTo6aq61g2nXGUhM4iCL3ewB6LDXZCtioEB'
+          ipfs.cat(hash)
+          .then((stream) => {
+            stream.pipe(bl((err, bldata) => {
+              expect(err).to.not.exist
+              expect(bldata.toString()).to.contain('Check out some of the other files in this directory:')
+              done()
+            }))
+          })
+          .catch((err) => {
+            expect(err).to.not.exist
+          })
+        })
+
+        it('returns error on invalid key', (done) => {
+          const hash = 'somethingNotMultihash'
+          ipfs.cat(hash)
+          .then((stream) => {})
+          .catch((err) => {
+            expect(err).to.exist
+            const errString = err.toString()
+            if (errString === 'Error: invalid ipfs ref path') {
+              expect(err.toString()).to.contain('Error: invalid ipfs ref path')
+            }
+            if (errString === 'Error: Invalid Key') {
+              expect(err.toString()).to.contain('Error: Invalid Key')
+            }
+            done()
+          })
+        })
+      })
+    })
+  })
+}
diff --git a/test/index.js b/test/index.js
index 8a8de083..574aec51 100644
--- a/test/index.js
+++ b/test/index.js
@@ -2,3 +2,4 @@
 
 exports.all = () => {}
 exports.object = require('./object')
+exports.files = require('./files')
diff --git a/test/test-data/15mb.random b/test/test-data/15mb.random
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8ee755f5
Binary files /dev/null and b/test/test-data/15mb.random differ